Quantifying dog meniscal volume at 1.5T and 3.0T MRI. (February 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Park, B.H.; Marches, S.; Eichelberger, B.M.; Winter, M.D.; Pozzi, A.; Banks, S.A.
• Is Part Of: Research in veterinary science. Volume 128(2020)
• Page Start: 236
• Page End: 241
• Publication Date: 2020-02
• Subjects: Meniscus -- MRI -- Dog -- Meniscal volume -- Medial image segmentation; Veterinary medicine -- Periodicals; Veterinary Medicine -- Periodicals; Médecine vétérinaire -- Périodiques; Médecine vétérinaire -- Recherche -- Périodiques; Diergeneeskunde; 636.089
• DOI: 10.1016/j.rvsc.2019.12.005
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0034-5288

Abstract

Abstract: The dog has been used extensively as an experimental model to study meniscal treatments such as meniscectomy, meniscal repair and regeneration. Accurate quantification of meniscal size and morphology are a crucial step for developing models of the meniscus. 3.0T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been found to be highly accurate in analyzing the meniscus in both clinical and research fields. However, 3.0T MRI systems are still uncommonly used in veterinary medicine. The goal of the study was to compare meniscal volume measurements from 1.5T MRI system with 3.0T MRI system using proton density sequence, a clinically relevant protocol. The MR images were segmented to reconstruct 3D surface representations of both medial and lateral menisci to compare the meniscal volumes measurements. Average volume differences were 8.8% ( P =0.42) and 8.9% ( P =0.535) for medial and lateral meniscus, respectively. No significant volume differences were found between 1.5T and 3.0T magnetic resonance (MR) measurements, with high Pearson's correlation coefficient of r > 0.8 and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.899. For inter- and intra-observer reproducibility, high correlation (ICC = 0.942 and 0.814) was observed, but with high variability for intra-observer reproducibility (lower bound 0.478, upper bound 0.949). We have shown that common clinical MR scanners and pulse sequences can be used to quantify dogs' meniscal volumes with good reproducibility. We believe that repeatable measurements of meniscal volumes using MR may provide a useful capability for assessment of postoperative results following meniscal treatments such as meniscectomy and meniscal regeneration. Highlights: MR meniscal volume measurements from 1.5T and 3.0T MRI systems using a clinically relevant protocol were compared. Meniscal volumes showed no significant differences between MRI magnet strength, image views and different stifle positions. 1.5T MRI is as accurate as a 3T MRI for meniscal volume measurements. Meniscal volume measurements from both MRI systems showed high inter and intraobserver reproducibility.